New Ray Lamontagne - Beg, Steal or Borrow

Ray LaMontagne will release his 4th album, God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise on August 17th and I have his first single. The slow chugging "Beg, Steal or Borrow" is more of the same: Ray's scruffy voice and acoustic guitar, some slide guitar for layers and a simple beat to keep the song moving. I am bit interested to hear the rest of the album because Ray chose to produce this record himself, leaving his regular producer Ethan Johns behind.

Even more exciting is the double bill of David Gray & Ray LaMontagne that will play a string of dates this summer. For a complete list of dates go here. Those of you lucky enough to get a ticket for the SOLD OUT Chicago show should get a good dose of new music. Along with this album comes news that David Gray will release his new album, Foundling on the same day! Without further to do, the latest from Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs.
Beg, Steal or Borrow by theearlynerd

Track Listing:
1. Repo Man
2. New York City's Killing Me
3. God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise
4. Beg, Steal or Borrow
5. Are We Really Through
6. This Love Is Over
7. Old Before Your Time
8. For The Summer
9. Like Rock And Roll And Radio
10. The Devil's In The Jukebox

New Bright Eyes song for The Sound Strike

First and foremost if you don't check out TwentyFourBit regularly, you should. It is definitely one of the best music blogs out there and constantly filled with great news like this.

Conor Oberst & Co. (aka Bright Eyes) are contributing a new song titled "Coyote Song" to the organization The Sound Strike, which is trying to call attention to Arizona's embarrassing SB 1070 Immigration Law. Many artists including Rage Against The Machine, Kanye West, Sonic Youth & Massive Attack have vowed not to play a single note in Arizona. Even better news is that most artists will be contributing songs to the project where fans can download and support the cause. No word on when the song or video will be available, but the video below has definitely got me excited. Disclaimer: The song playing in the background is NOT the new material, instead "Road to Joy" off the fantastic "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning"

Conor Oberst for The Sound Strike from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

Official 2010 Lollapalooza Aftershows

Lollapalooza announced this year's lineup for official aftershows taking place at local venues in Chicago. Phoenix, The National, The Black Keys & Devo are among the acts and even better,they've added a few new venues to the mix.

Phoenix seems to be the big draw this year, packing them into the tiny House of Blues with reasonably priced tickets! A special presale starts tomorrow at 10am, password: tickets.

Alliances will be made as concertgoers will have to choose between The National and The Black Keys, both releasing great albums recently and sadly, both playing Saturday night. I'm choosing The Black Keys in hopes they and brilliant openers, The Morning Benders demolish the Metro.

If you're looking for even smaller venues, Rogue Wave at Schuba's should get nice and sweaty. Health at Reggie's Rock Club is definitely "Enter At Your Own Risk". That place is small, but so glad they added it to the list this year. Lincoln Hall also gets introduced this year hosting The Big Pink, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Blitzen Trapper.

If it's dance you want, hit up the Congress Theater for Hot Chip & Rusko. Unless Perry's tent gets a major makeover, I can't see Rusko's show coming anywhere near the damage he pulled at Coachella this year. His lights and energy might get lost during the day, but indoors and late night seems just right for him. Check out his new video in case you haven't found his album, O.M.G.!. The remix is pretty sweet too, you're welcome.

Hold On (feat. Amber Coffman) (Sub Focus Remix) by theearlynerd

For a complete list, go here. Remember, pace yourself at Lolla because they parties and music never stop...

Get Two Awesome New Releases For Free: A-Trak & Junip

I know what you're thinking: Isn't most music already free? The short answer is, not legally. Recently bands have decided to give away a song for free or after hearing that their album has leaked, the ability to stream an entire album. But very few artists give away an entire album for free. This week, A-Trak and Junip did just that and they are fantastic.

A-Trak has been on the scene since winning the 1997 DMC World DJ Championship. He was 15 years old, no joke. Now running Fool's Gold Records with Nick Catchdubs and producing for Kid Sister and Lupe Fiasco, he has been busy to say the least. This guy can do it all and has; from DJ'n for Kanye West to rocking WMC with Armand Van Helden as the duo, Duck Sauce. Jump on Hype Machine for a dizzying amount of remixes, my favorite being his remix of Boys Noize "Oh!". This week he dropped via his twitter (@atrak) account the second volume of his Dirty South Dance series and it has been on repeat since then. Stream it right here and download to get your next party started. Track 4, "We Don't Want No Goblins" is killing me...


The complete opposite of being everywhere is being nowhere and taking 10 years to release your formal debut. Junip is that band. Formed in 2000, this Swedish group has released a total of 11 songs in 10 years but they are well worth it. I first caught their Black Refuge EP after hearing their version of Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad". This week they released the Rope and Summit EP and have promised a full length album this summer. Even better they are touring this summer with a stop at Lincoln Hall next month so it looks like things are starting to pick up for the slow moving indie folk trio. Simply sign up for their mailing list to get the entire EP for free.
   The Ghost Of Tom Joad by theearlynerd

Videos are cool...

So as everything in life, the music industry is cyclical. Do you remember Diddy and Kanye sampling Diana Ross and Chaka Khan? How about the nostalgia of pretty much any 90's band reuniting and touring in the last couple of years? Even better, the recent influx of keyboards and synths to make everything sound like the soundtrack from a John Hughes' movie? Hell, even albums are coming back, actual vinyl. I guess it was only a matter of time before the music video became old and somehow new again. With Mtv removing the "music television" from their programming and logo, artists can make videos and easily place them on their website. Two weeks ago, Band of Horses gave away their newest video. Erykah Badu got ass naked in Dallas for her new song. My how things have changed... So here is my version of 120 Minutes, 4 videos for you to check out because you're not going to get them anywhere else. A channel that plays ONLY music videos, now you're just being ridiculous.

Further proof that music is headed back to the future, Mark Ronson's new single, "Circuit Breaker".


The new The National album is out, so go get it.

The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (official video) from The National on Vimeo.

LCD Soundsystem are coming to Chicago next week, I sure hope you got a ticket.


Finally Boys Noize & Erol Alkan's new masterpiece "Lemonade".


FYI, I intentionally omitted M.I.A.'s newest video because it's damn near everywhere...